MLP: The Movie Reveiw · 4:28pm Dec 24th, 2017

I’m warning everyone RIGHT. NOW. THERE WILL BE MAJOR SPOILERS! I

Last chance to turn back…. Beyond this is spoiler territory… everybody ready?

OK then… let’s begin:

The Story:

Our movie opens up by showing off the fact that it’s got a bigger budget than the show by giving us a lovely look at the Pegasi flying through the sky and ponies throughout Canterlot preparing for the Festival of Friendship. All set to a ponified version of "We got the Beat"...

...why do I suddenly expect Jimmy Neutron to fly by and say “Gotta Blast!”?

Anyway, a few BG ponies explain that good ol’ Twilight is hosting the event, stating that someone as “smart and cool under pressure” as her can handle things…

She’s freaking out, isn’t she?

Twilight: "Ooooohhh MY GOODNESS I CAN'T HANDLE THIS!!"

...of course.

And then we get this face:

PFFFFT HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

So Twilight asks the Princesses (awesome, Luna finally got her own throne!) for assistance with the festival when the mane star Songbird Serenade preforms by having them move the Sun and Moon while Cadence uses her magic to create an aura above the stage, combining them all into a spectacular light show!

Sadly, the Princesses decline.

We then see the rest of the mane five preparing the festival, RD is clearing the skies, Fluttershy is conducting and orchestra with her animal friends, Rarity is preparing the stage, AJ is supplying her friends with some cider (which RD happily drinks every time the cup is filled, which is hilarious!) and Pinkie is making tons of balloon animals… including one of Discord!

Which reminds me, where’s Discord during all this?

Meh, probably playing chess with Q.

So Twilight gets back to her friends with the bad news (cute moment: Rarity specifically greets Spike!) and starts freaking out once more, but her friends reassure her that they can make the festival great together!

And so begins the first musical number:We Got This Together:

The song is actually very well done, it's got a catchy, upbeat tune, as well as nice cameos from all of the background and side ponies we've come to know and love throughout the series! Starlight Glimmer, Trixie, the Cakes, Big Mac & the Apple Family, the CMC, the Wonderbolts, Moondancer, Lyra Heartstrings, Cheese Sandwich, Berry Punch, Octavia Melody, Amethyst Star, Bulk Biceps, Tree Hugger, Night Glider, Photo Finish, Party Favor, Coco Pommel, Sassy Saddles... and even Zecora made it!

I'm not going to lie though, the chorus actually reminds me of the Crystal Ballad in a way... it has almost exactly the same beat, except this one is more fast-paced.

So after that song Pinkie Pie covers Twilight with cake from her Easy-Bake-Confetti
-Cake-Cannon^tm right before Songbird Serenade shows up and… this happens:

It’s official, Photo Finish is a ninja!

I don't know what's funnier about this scene, the fact that she was able to time Photo Finish’s movements and posed accordingly on reflex alone or the fact that she was able to start a conversation then stop to pose various times and then continue as if nothing had happened!

Either way, I like her!

But sadly our celebration is interrupted by the arrival several storm clouds with huge airships emerging from them. The lead ship lands and-

NOOOOO!! NOT BRIAN!!

*Sniff* he was taken from us too soon….

Anyway, the first horrendous creature to emerge from this sinister ship is...

Wow, Stitch really let himself go...

Actually this is Grubber, who announces via huge megaphone (that was the old-school Transformers sound effect, nice touch!) the arrival of the their army on behalf of the mighty Storm King!

The Storm King wants you… to give him your magic!

Soon after which we get introduced to one of the best new characters of the movie: Commander Tempest Shadow, a powerful unicorn with a broken horn…

But don’t let that handicap make you think she’s a pushover. This mare outright OWNS every scene she’s in! Seriously, every time I see her onscreen I get the chills! She’s the kind of characters who knows how powerful she is and won’t hesitate to let you know where you stand on the totem pole: under her hoof!

Anyway, she immediately throws down and leads the invasion of Canterlot, using some sort of petrification bomb to turn Cadence to stone! Celestia tries to tell Luna to seek help from the “Queen the Hippo-” but gets turned to stone before she can finish! Luna attempts to flee but get turned to stone herself! Twilight seems to be next on the list… but DERPY OF ALL PONIES PUSHES HER OUT OF THE WAY!!

It’s official, Derpy is the new hero of Equestria!

Anyway, our heroes try to escape, but when Twilight attempts to blast a few foot soldiers out of her… this happens:

Oh sure, the VILLAINS get magic-proof shields...

After getting sent flying over the waterfall and licking their wounds, Twilight suggests that they find the “Queens of the Hippos” that Celestia was talking about... leading into this funny exchange:

Anyway, while a few of them are uncertain, they decide to head south and find this Queen of Hippos and get help to save Equestria!

Or… y’know… go to Thorax and his changelings… or Ember and the dragons… just saying...

Back in Canterlot, while the ponies are all rounded up (aw man, they Spitfire and Lyra!), we see the three petrified Princesses being placed in the throne room for some sort of ceremony. Suddenly Tempest is contacted by her boss…. via the Floo Network from harry Potter apparently.

OK, I’d really like to know how that works!

The Storm King reveals that he’s obtained the “Staff of Sacanas” and demands to know why she hasn’t gotten all of the “Pega-corn-acuses” and reminds her that after getting the Staff of Sacanas all he’ll need all four of them to completely gain full control over their magic… and restore her horn.

Tempest promises to capture Twilight Sparkle for him in three days, with the Storm King promising that if she fails “Her horn won’t be the only thing that’s broken”, *shudder*...

After the call ends due to “bad reception” (seriously, how dose that spell work?!), Tempest loses her composure and demands that Grubber prepare her ship.

We cut back to the mane seven who are now traveling through the desert, with Pinkie losing (what’s left of) her mind. Thankfully they’re all saved from dehydration when they come across a road to Klugetown, a crime-filled town where you must give to get, or steal what you desire.

You will never find more wretched hive of scum and villainy...

Gotta say I love the layout and design of the place. I’m kinda reminded of Junkertown from Overwatch, only more cluttered like Agrabah in Aladdin. And we see a few interesting creatures like huge turtles, lizard-folk, and some anthropomorphic fish, not bad.

As the mane six traverse the town, Pinkie attempts to get some information from the residents, but the group ends up hassled by the residents how start demanding they “trade” for informaton, either demanding Spike thinking he’s a geeko, Rarity’s mane (Creepy. Also, storm bucks? The Storm King had his own currency?), or all of them for their “collection” (OK, how did a brony make it into the film?!)

OK Rarity, you gotta stop swooning over every dashing rogue you meet, it’s getting old.

Then we’re introduced to Capper, a smooth-talking con artist who helps our heroes by tricking all of the inhabitants into thinking that the ponies are infected with a disease called “Pastellus Coloritis”. Gaining their trust (and Spike’s ire due to Rarity fawning over him), and offering to give them info on how to find the Queen of the Hippos. While the rest of them are willing to trust him, Twilight is unsure, leading into the song:I'm The Friend You Need:

Not a bad song, it’s got a slightly sinister undertone but at the same time it’s pretty tame, not exactly memorable, but decent.

However, just as the song ends and they reach his house, he tells one of the residents to get Verko, as has something that will “Magically erase his debt.”

What debt, you ask?

In the IDW Prequel Comics, it’s shown that Capper lived his life stealing from the street vendors in the Kingdom of Abyssinia alongside his best friend and partner-in-crime; Chummer. They were both street orphans and were forced to flee their home when the Storm King invaded, stealing all of their treasures including the Misfortune Malachite, a stone that is said to bring bad luck to anyone that possesses it.
They stowed away on one of the ships and used it to escape the Storm King’s forces (with some help from Celaeno, but we’ll get into that later), unaware that they took Misfortune Malachite with them.
Sadly they ended up crashing into a desert, scavenging what they could from the wreckage, including the Misfortune Malachite, and set off to find civilization. The eventually arrived in Klugetown where they made a living scamming others, using their skills and street-smarts to try and make ends meet with food, water, and money to survive.
However, their actions drew the unwanted attention of the local crime boss, Verko; Klugetown's biggest crime lord. Capper and Chummer offer the Misfortune Malachite due to its value, and Verko agrees to pay anything they want in return for it. However later that night, while Chummer is perfectly happy with the idea of doing this for the rest of his life, Capper was more interested in settling down somewhere for once quits with his life as a thief, an idea that irked Chummer.
Things went downhill fast the next day when Verko has provided an airship in exchange for the Malachite, but Chummer double-crossed both Verko and Capper and attempts to escape with both the airship and the Malachite. Capper attempted to reason with his old friend, but Chummer feared that Capper was going to abandon him and their old life as thieves, so he chose to abandon him first as he did not want to give up his thievery anytime soon.
In his attempts to get Capper off the airship, Chummer accidentally set the deck on fire, and finally managed to throw Capper off the ship and flees with the Malachite(with Verko noting that the airship won't make it out of the desert in its current condition), leaving him stranded in Klugetown and in serious debt to Verko.

*Whew!* Anyway, back to the movie!

Meanwhile Tempest Shadow arrives in Klugetown searching for our heroes, however when one of the fish-men try to attack her, thinking she’s working with Capper and the mane six… then this happens:

Well said Grubber. Did I mention I LOVE Tempest?

So after showing she means business, she threatens to zap fish-man if he doesn’t start talking...

Back at Capper’s place, after a bit of conversing, Rarity fixes up his coat for him, prompting him to immediately ask what the catch was. Our generous Unicorn merely replies it's just thanks for helping her and her friends out. Capper is confused and touched by this action, which is due to the fact that as far as he knows, any beneficial action always comes at a price. At the same time, Twilight comes across a book that reveals that reveals that they actually need to find the Queen of the Hippogriffs, who resides on Mount Aris.

However before they can leave, Verko pops in, revealing that Capper planned to sell them. And to make things worse, Tempest shows up to capture them. Verko at first doesn’t see as much as a threat and… oh christ….

Yeeeeaaaah…. He gets zapped, during which the mane seven make their daring escape!

Now there’s some trailer fuel!

The group just barely manage to make it onto an airship just as it takes off, only to find out it’s filled with Pirates...

Back in Klugetown, Tempest interrogates Capper for info on where the mane server are headed, but before he can sell them out however, he remembers Rarity’s previous act of kindness towards him and attempts to lead him away from the mane six by giving her false information. However Tempest decides to play it smart and drags him along for the ride just in case he’s lying...

Back on the ship, the mane seven get caught by the Pirates, who happen to be working for the Storm King!

“Now hold still, I’m just gonna fondle your booty.”

Then we meet their boss: Captain Celaeno, she at first abides by the Storm King rule book and plans to throw them overboard (Uh, lady? You do know at least three of them have wings right?), however just before they can, they break for lunch. Much to our heroes surprise, amusement, and confusion.

Rainbow Dash: “Ugh, why does this food look like it was regurgitated by something!?”

Celaeno: “We’re birds, what’d you expect?”

When Rainbow asks why they’re subservient to the Storm King, and while the movie gives us the cliffnote version of their situation, I think the comics will explain it better:

In the prequel comic Celaeno and her crew only stole from the Storm King’s forces and no-one else. However she became bored of seizing worthless treasure from Storm King's forces. Celaeno saw her crew as a family and refused to risk their safety until she found a suitable payload for them all. However they one day received a message from a cloud-like entity named “Strife” (The Storm King’s traitorous second-in-command at the time, a while before he recruited Tempest) who offers her the treasure stowed on the Storm King's main airship, and provides the route the Storm King will be using to leave Abyssinia, in exchange to be taken away with her crew.
After successfully pillaging the Storm King’s forces and stealing some of their ships, Celaeno and her crew assessed the treasure in the stolen ship (which included the Misfortune Malachite
), but came across Capper and Chummer, who had stowed on board said ship in Abyssinia.
Celaeno however didn't mind their presence and was nice enough to show them hospitality, however as she made her way back to her main ship the Storm King's ship arrived and stalls them. After dealing with Strife's disloyalty by throwing him overboard, the Storm King-while upset that Celaeno stole his treasure-made her an offer she couldn't refuse: She and her crew help him with his future raids of the nations of Equestria and beyond. Though Celaeno reluctantly agreed at first, she prevented the Storm King's forces from stopping the airship she had just been on from escaping, which was now piloted by Capper and Chummer (both of whom eventually ended up in Klugetown).
Angered that he lost a ship full of treasure (and the Misfortune Malachite they unknowingly took with them) he repaid their insubordination by putting them to work on his dingy cargo ships, eventually breaking their spirits.

Realizing that they’ve “lost their mojo”, RD decides to get them back on their feet. Which leads into the next song: Time To Be Awesome:

This is one of the best songs in this movie by far! It’s motivational and catchy with an upbeat tune, and started off by best pony: Rainbow Dash! Not to mention RD pulls off an EPIC Sonic Rainboom to clear all the clouds in their way at the end, and it. is. AWESOME!!!

I’ve got no words, the epicness of this scene speaks for itself!

This marks the first time since "A Canterlot Wedding", five seasons ago, that she has done a Sonic Rainboom!!!

Unfortunately this also gets Tempest’s attention as she makes a u-turn and beelines straight for their ship.

Whoops...

Tempest Shadow: “I heard you were getting more screentime than me… let’s remind the fans who’s “best movie character”, shall we?”

So Tempest arrives on the ship, dragging Capper along with her (what an awkward reunion) and starts interrogating the Pirates for the location of the mane six, thankfully they stall for time, claiming they only have Storm King merchandise...

...now I want a Storm King bobblehead...

Twilight, not wanting to simply wait and get caught, attempts to find a way out and accidentally opens the trapdoor, dropping them and all the supplies out of the airship.

Rarity: “One should always look their best, even while plummeting to their death.”

AJ: “Seriously Rarity!?”

Rarity: ”If I die, then I die FABULOUS!”

However Twilight saves the day by improvising in mid-air and using the falling supplies to make a makeshift hot-air balloon!

OK, WOW TWILIGHT…. That’s damn impressive!

And so, with their map in hoof, the mane seven make their way to Mount Aris, off find the Queen of the Hippogriffs!

Back on the ship, Grubber finds a map revealing their planned route to Mount Aris. While Tempest is pretty peeved to know that Capper and the Pirates helped the mane seven escape her, and in retaliation she assaults them with her magic and destroys their ship… yikes...

Meanwhile, the mane seven arrive at Mount Aris… or rather the balloon crashes at the bottom of the mountain (because of course it does) and we get a little melodrama from Rarity…

“Where’s my fainting couch!?”

Sadly when they arrive at the top, all they find are completely abandoned ruins,

….yeeesh, feels like if Everfree took over Canterlot....

As they continue to search, they hear someone singing… they follow the voice to a pool of some some sort, only for the figure to flee. They quickly try to follow but get sucked into a whirlpool!

Thankfully they’re saved from drowning by Princess Skystar (who I hereby dub mermaid Pinkie Pie), upon learning that the Storm King has taken over their land, takes them to Seaquestria!

Twilight: “Wow, it looks so different from the books… why’d you change it”

Skystar: “Well we had to redecorate when everyone started saying the towers looked like giant di-”

Twilight: “NEVERMIND!!”

So Princess Skystar takes our heroes to meet her mother Queen Novo, and reveals that long ago, the Storm King attacked Mount Aris, and to protect her subjects, Novo; Queen of the Hippogriffs used a special pearl to transform her subjects into Seaponies and hide themselves underwater.

To give them a demonstration of the pearls power, the Queen transforms the mane sis into Seaponies as well!

...and poor Spike transformations into a pufferfish...

Twilight gets the idea to use the pearls power against the Storm King, but Queen Novo refuses, stating that she can’t risk him getting his hands on it (he came close in “The Stormy Road to Canterlot”) and the safety of her subjects comes first.

Skystar is disappointed that they have to go, but Twi tasks Pinkie and the rest of the mane seven with cheering her up while she stays behind and thinks of a plan...

Twi… I don’t like that look in your eyes...

Anyway, this leads into the next song: One Small Thing:

Who else is reminded of “Under the Sea”? Everyone? OK.

The song is pretty catchy, nice and upbeat, not my top pick from the list, but definently one I’d gladly listen to again!

Also, a bit of trivia:

Anyway, at the end Queen Novo actually joins in and agrees to help them out..

...but then the Pearl Alarm goes off and...

GOD DAMMIT TWILIGHT. TRYING TO STEAL THEIR PEARL?! REALLY?! WHAT PART OF THIS PLAN DID YOU THINK WASN’T GOING TO BACKFIRE?!

OK, I kinda understand where she’s coming from…

She had to endure her home being invaded, then being hunted down across Equestria… and then their supposed only hope refusing to help them, so it kind of makes sense that she’d be desperate at this point...

...but still, just using your friends like that? That is NOT cool.

So thanks to that boneheaded move, they all get kicked out of Seaquestria and the rest of the gang, who are rightfully angry and disappointed in her, rightfully call her out for trying to use them as a distraction, and for not trusting them to convince the Queen. Twilight in turn snaps at her friends and says some very hurtful words to them, more specifically Pinkie Pie.

RD: "Dude… Not. Cool."

This results in the gang have a falling out and leaving her behind with Spike.

Twilight, realizing how badly she screwed up, breaks down in tears while Spike tries to speak with her… only for Tempest Shadow capitalize on the situation to capture Twilight in a magic-proof cage!

As the ship takes them back to Canterlot, Tempest taunts Twilight’s predicament, Twilight tries to reason with her, but she brushes her off. Then we get Tempest Shadow’s epic villain song: Open Up Your Eyes:

This song has quite the creepy atmosphere to it. And I gotta say, Tempest has some nice pipes on her! This might be my second favorite song in the movie (Kind reminds me of “Unleash the magic” for some reason though….)

And during this we get to see Tempests history, but I think we can go for a more fleshed out version:

Special Note: This part will recap the events of Issue #4 of the Prequel Comics and The Stormy Road to Canterlot, which has no pictures so I’ll improvise.
Tempest Shadow was a young unicorn who dreamed of being accepted into Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, however while playing with her friends Glitter Drops and Spring Rain when their ball ended up bouncing near a blocked-off cave. When her friends were too afraid to go in, she herself went to retrieve it but was attacked by and Ursa Minor. She tried to defend herself, but sadly she was struck right as she was about to use a spell, costing her her horn and the ability to use magic properly, said magic being now limited to destructive explosive blasts.
After losing her horn, while her friends remained patiently supportive of Tempest in the months following the incident, they still feared her unstable magic and spent less time around her, becoming much more distant as a result. It eventually got to the point where they went to take the entrance exams for Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns and didn't see fit to tell Tempest until afterward. This finally prompted Tempest to run away from Equestria and eventually abandon any notion of friendship, believing that if her most trusted friends would shun her to this extent, then everypony else inevitably will.
Tempest wandered the desert for some time after leaving Equestria behind, working in run-down, filthy towns like Drungar while trying to earn money (going by aliases like "Caramel Chip" and "Cherry Pie"), eventually she came across the wreckage of Chummer's crashed airship (the paw-prints leading away from the ship indicates he survived, although it’s unknown if he survived the desert) and found the Misfortune Malachite in the ruins.
However after grabbing it in hopes that it could be used to restore her horn, she was attacked by several of the Storm King's soldiers, with Grubber demanding the Malachite back. Tempest fought them off with her unstable magic and escaped. Eventually, she arrived in Klugetown and decided to gather information at a local tavern, learning about how the Storm King had started expanding his empire.
She inspects the Malachite heard voices from it, telling her to get rid of it because of the misfortune it brings to its owners. Heeding the warnings, Tempest left Klugetown with a caravan led by an Earth pony named Rambler. However, during the journey, the caravan was ambushed by Storm King's troops again, Tempest tried to slip away unnoticed, only to come face-to-face with the Storm King himself.
Tempest: “Man, you are one tall bastard.”
Upon taking back the Malachite, the Storm King abruptly crushed it in his hand, stating that the constant lengths and mishaps he’s gone through is proof enough to him that the stone's curse is real, and he can’t have that kind of magic disrupting his plans. Afterwards, he then offers her a position as his new second-in-command in place of Strife, as well as the restoration of Tempest's horn once he has gained enough power, and Tempest offers to lead him back to her homeland of Equestria to claim the magic there for himself to accomplish that.
The two then shake hands to seal the deal and sets up the future invasion of Canterlot to claim the Princesses' magic.
Later on, they staged an attack on Hippogriffia in an attempt to steal the Queen's magical pearl, intent on using its powers to make their army stronger for the upcoming invasion. Tempest came close to succeeding, but the Hippogriff Queen herself personally lead the charge against Tempest’s forces, even throttling her against a wall.
While the pearl was saved, the Storm King’s forces overwhelmed the Hippogriffs and forced them to flee into the sea as they destroyed their home. While Tempest was overcome with remorse upon seeing the destruction she and her soldiers had wrought on Hippogriffia, the Storm King reminded her that feeling sorry for herself wouldn't grow her horn back, forcing her to harden her resolve.

(Whew!) Anyway, we cut back to the mane five who are lamenting what to do now… only for Spike to reveal that she’s been captured! The group ponder on how to catch up with Tempest… only to get some assistance from Capper, the Pirates (how’d they survive the ship blowing up?!) and Princess Skystar! Each of them pointing out how they’ve prevailed even when the odds stacked against them, with their resolve returned and new allies by their side, the group prepare to head back to Canterlot and save their friends!

Back in Canterlot we see several of the captured ponies, such as the Spa ponies who are being forced to give the minions massages and-aw damn, they even got the Crusaders!

And so Twilight is placed in the throne room with other Princesses and The Storm King then makes his full debut,... And I have to say, VampDash put it best: This guy is MLP Aku! And yet I also feel like a small combination of various other villains: He’s got an army at his beck and call like Chrysalis, and Sombra’s intimidating tone. He’s just a really enjoyable villain to watch,he even goes as far as to mock Twilight and ham it up more than Discord before pulling a Tirek and using his staff to steal the Princesses magic…. along with the magic of everyone Canterlot!

This in turn gives him power over both the sun and the moon and then….

I’ve got no joke here, this is just hilarious!

We see Canterlot from the outside and it seems that the Storm king has done some… redecorating….

Ugh.. Egopolis much?

And our heroes arrive with a big cake (how much you wanna bet Pinkie baked that?) and sneak in thanks to Capper’s sly manipulations, however as they get deeper into the city Grubber goes for the cake the second he spots it, but the second he tastes it he ends up unintentionally blow their cover!

Ohhh it’s that kind of cake...

And so the fight begins! All of our heroes doing what they do best to take out the baddies! The Pirates dueling with them, Skystar (who’s surprisingly strong) throwing the Storm Guards at their comrades, RD beating up whoever she can, AJ, Rarity and Capper tying them up with their lasso/ribbon, Pinkie Pie-um….

PINKE PLEASE STOP!! HE’S ALREADY DEAD!!

And even Fluttershy manaes to get in her own humorous moment by giving one of them a therapy session! (just wait ‘till he gets the bill...)

So as the fight continues our heroes plus Capper make their way to the castle while the rest hold them off, only to be confronted by more guards…. And then Capper and Spike pull THIS off:

Capper: “SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE DRAGON!”

Twilight is overjoyed to see her friends again, but the Storm King gives us another funny scene before living up to his name and summoning a huge tornado, flinging debries, ponies, and even his own minions away. Our heroes get pushed back by the raging storm until Pinkie gets an idea...

Pinkie: “Let’s get dangerous...”

So as the Storm King releshes in his newfound power, Tempest pleads for him to restore her horn… aaaand he reveals he was just using her (saw that one coming), the two have a brief fight which should have been a bit longer in my opinion and the beams clash, resulting in the Storm King weakened and his staff ripe for the taking and Tempest hanging off the balcony at the mercy of the storm…. and Twilight quickly goes for Tempest, can’t say I’m surprised, she has an odd habit of befriending Unicorns that wanted to kick her flank...

Back on the ground it turns out Pinkie has loaded the all into her Easy-Bake-Confetti
-Cake-Cannon^tm and fires them straight through the storm and right into the King before he can zap Twi and Temp, sending his staff flying into window. We get a funny moment where they attempt to have their end-of-episode-moral-make-up... before remembering that the staffs magic is going out of control and causing the castle to collapse!

So after an team pose for the trailer they make a break for the staff, holding on to each other as Twi hovers towards it and the Storm King trys to reach it first.

And so the final battle becomes a game of keep-away.

Twilight just barely gets to it first, and is sent flying into the cyclone along with the Storm King… and Pinkie can only cry out in horror…

Gee, I can’t believe they killed off the main character, just like Snow White, and Pinocchio, and Trusty, and Aurora, and Darby O’Gill, and Baloo, and Robin Hood, and Chief, and Gurgi, and Basil, and The Beast, and Iago, and Esmeralda, and Megara, and Giselle, and WALL•E, and Flynn, and Iron Man, and Ralph, and Anna, and Baymax….

….well, I for one am shocked.

So the storm dies down and of course she survives, she went through a DBZ battle with Tirek, you think a storm would be enough to kill her?

And so the day is saved, the staff is retrieved, the mane seven rejoice and Tempest watches….

….and the Storm King decides to be a sore loser and hit them with one last petrification bomb! But Tempest repays Twilight’s kindness by hitting point-blank and taking the bullet for her!

Welcome to the club Tempest, see you at the next meeting!

As a result of the bomb detonating point-blank, both Tempest the Storm King are turned to stone, while Twi saves Tempest, the King falls off the balcony and shatters into pieces.

….YIKES. And I thought King Sombra’s death was brutal!

And so, using the staff, Twilight turns Tempest, the Princess,and all of Canterlot back to normal…. including Derpy (the REAL hero of this film), and restoring everyone’s magic!

And once again, the day is saved!

And so the festival finally begins Songbird Serenade with singing Rainbow:

Calming, yet amazing to listen to, not bad!

And so our heroes and their new friends enjoy their victory, Queen Novo even shows up… and Skystar is grounded (though considering they took out the Storm King, I’d say it won’t be for long… that or she’s joking). Tempest even contributes by using her unstable magic to set off some fireworks!

And it turns out that her real name is…. Fizzlepop Berrytwist.

PFFFT!! Ok, that’s just funny!

I have to say, this film surprised me in a positive way!

Overall, it was a good movie, the plot was standard but still exciting, everyone felt in-character (save for Twilight’s brain-fart), the newer characters were entertaining (especially the Storm King) and their voice actors really fit their roles nicely. Though granted, you’d have to read the prequel comics in order to get more insight on the new characters backstories...

Not perfect mind you, but the good aspects heavily outweigh the bad. I really hope they actually make this movie canonical to the mane series!

All in all, I’ll give this movie an 8.5 out of 10!